I realize it’s already the first week of November but last week was taken up with family and I could not get myself pulled together until the weekend. Having said that, as much as I’d like you to read on, if you haven’t voted…GO VOTE.
Done your civic duty? Super! Well, October was not a big reading month, mostly because I took on a 700 page novel, but the majority of books I read fall into the ‘really good to great’ category, which is always a reason to be happy.
Published by Clarkson Potter
Publication date: September 18, 2018
I’ll start with non-fiction, mostly because I read so little of it. I know Chrissy Teigen as an outspoken and funny celebrity, but I didn’t know about her love of food. Now I do and her newest, Cravings: Hungry for More is a magical unicorn of a cookbook. The pictures are food porn and the recipes are written with such humor and a down-to-earth attitude that I read the book like a novel.
Published by Gallery/Scout Press
Publication date: June 6, 2017
Simply put, The Party is a tale of a sweet-sixteen slumber party that goes horribly wrong, despite on-site parents who try to do everything right. From there the novel spirals into everything that is wrong with the world today: lawsuits for the sake of revenge and greed, vicious high school mean girls, predatory boys, status obsessed parents…you name it. The writing is good, but the ending, which is a massive twist, only made me angrier because it made no sense as to why this person would choose those actions after everything that has already happened. NO. SENSE.
Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami (review to follow)
From the Corner of the Oval by Beck Dorey-Stein (my review)
Published by Tin House Books
Publication date: October 9, 2018
I loved Claire Fuller’s debut, Our Endless Numbered Days. She is a charming and enthusiastic author who gives freely of her time to bloggers. All of which means I was predisposed to enjoy her newest novel, Bitter Orange. Unfortunately, I really didn’t care for it and mostly skimmed it. It’s the story of a mismatched couple and a lonely woman stuck in an old house for a summer. Nothing is as it seems, but the levels of oddity went too high for me (one woman believes she had a virgin birth). Instead of making me uncomfortable in a good way, it felt awkward, as if several possibly good stories had been forced together in a bad fit.
In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt (review to follow)
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver (my review)
Time's Convert by Deborah Harkness
Published by Viking
Publication date: September 18, 2018
This is so painful—another big fall read that left me brutally disappointed (I’m looking at you Transcription). Even worse, despite having devoured Harkness’s All Souls trilogy, I DNFed Time’s Convert. While the vampiric aspects are still fascinating and fun, much of the plot centers around the American Revolution and patriarchal society. Not interested.
Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott
Publication date: July 17, 2018
What’s to say about Give Me Your Hand? Megan Abbott is the queen of twitchy, twisty novels about teenage girls and what a surplus of hormones can do. This one is actually about PMDD, a little understood kind of PMS. I was more interested in that than the story. You can check out the synopsis on Goodreads, if you’re interested. It was good, but not my favorite of hers.
Great Reading from Previous Years
Sharing the love for these four backlist books that I thought were outstanding!
October 2014:
A quick but humorous novel about love and marriage
A dark debut novel that combines history, mystery and fairy tale
A delicious 5-star piece of satire about life in Los Angeles
October 2013:
How was your October reading?
“Awkward” is the perfect descriptor for Bitter Orange. I’m curious what drew you to The Party. It doesn’t sound like your sort of book.
Here’s to finding a gem or two before the end of the year!
I thought it would be a mystery/thriller ala Megan Abbott. But it wasn’t. Sigh
what was the 700 page novel??
The new novel from Haruki Murakami. Hopefully I’ll have a review soon!
Such a bummer about the new Fuller book. Luckily for me, I still have Our Endless Numbered Days on my TBR, so I’ll for sure start there. I’ll give Time’s Convert a try at some point but I don’t have super great feelings about it. I eye-rolled straight through the second Harkness book. Loved your recap!
So nice to see you in the bookish world again! You have got to read Endless before year-end. It’s not a big book, but it packs a punch.
Ok, not that I love hating things and usually don’t post about it in public, but I’m so happy you felt that way about The Party. I wanted to throw that thing across the room. Long before the end. Curmudgeons unite.
Get off my lawn!
Too bad about Bitter Orange. I’m wondering a bit if I need to go there now. Worth checking out or not really? thx sounds a bit out there!
Whether you’ve read her or not, you’ll be disappointed. If you haven’t read her, read her debut Our Endless Numbered Days. It is outstanding.
Thanks. Good idea, I think I need to read that one first.